Cash book used for occupational therapy payments at St. Audry’s Hospital, United Kingdom, 1952-1972

Credits: National Railway Museum

St. Audry’s Hospital, Suffolk recorded payments made to patients in this book. This was part of an incentive scheme for occupational therapy. The hospital opened in 1829, originally as the Suffolk County Asylum for Pauper Lunatics. Early on, it had used manual labour such as gardening or laundry work as therapy. In the 1900s, it began using more expressive therapies such as arts and crafts as rehabilitation. It introduced occupational therapy for men in 1934 and for women in 1947. This empty payments book indicates patients could only work in three-hour blocks. All monies were signed for by patient and nursing staff.